Drying apparatus.



IE. E. SLEH.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLlcAnoN FILED EEB. as. 1915.

D Mmmm Jan. 30, 1917.

E. E. SILER.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I5. 1915.

Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. E. SILER.

DRYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION man FEB.15,1915.

Patented Jan. 30, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

f ...It

IIEANNJEST E. SILEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNIIE ASSIGN- MENTS, TC THE UNIVERSAL JDRYING MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

A CORPORATION .OIF ILLINOIS.

narrare Arr Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented dan. AO, IOII.

To all whom t may concern.' y

lBe it known that I, lEARNnsT E. SILER, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Drying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus .for treating materials, and has more particular reference to apparatus of this character for drying or removing moisture from materials.

Cne of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved apparatus of this character which will be simple, durable and reliable in construction and eective and efficient in operation. 1

Cther objects of my invehtion will appear hereinafter.

My invention consists. in the features of novelty exemplified in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, showny in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly set forth inthe appended claims.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view principally in longitudinal section of a structure embodying my invention. .Fig 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the bed upon which the material is placed, and showing one of the agitators in its relation to said bed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the drying bed. Fig. el is a view of the portion of the structure shown in lFig. 2 at right angles thereto, the bed and air chamber being in section andthe agitators in full lines; and IPig. 5 is a sectional view, enlarged of a portion of a modihed drying be'd construction.

It will be obvious to one skilled in theart after having-obtained an understanding of my invention from the disclosures .herein made, that my invention is capable of modilication Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I wish it so understood.

'Ihe apparatus which I have shown in the drawings, and which embodies lmy invention, is designed more particularly for v the purpose of drying or removing the moisture, or a portion thereof, from such materials as beet sugar pulp, brewers grains, fertilizers and the like, so as to render the products commercially marketable or usable. In this apparatus, I place the material to be treated upon a long bed, which may or may not be heated, as desired, and through which a drying fluid, such as heated dry air, is passed. rIhis bed or support is provided with a plurality of openings or passages distributed over the face, or a portion of the face of the bed and arranged preferably, though not necessarily, in some definite or regular relation. I prefer to make this bed with its openings extending indirectly therethrough, and in this construction I use two plates of sheet metal, or other suitable material, for the purpose, these sheets A and B5 being s'uperposed'one above the other. The lower plate A of this bed is provided with a plurality of holes or openings A1 of the proper size which communicate with an air chamber C on the underside of the bed and with a plurality of passages A2. rIhese passages A2v may be formed in any desired manner, and in this construction I have shown them as being formed by odsetting or striking up portions A3 of the upper plate B5.. In such manner that these struck-up portions form spaces between themselves and the upper surface of the plate A. Openings A4 are formed by severing a portion of the metal from the body thereof, and these openings communicate with the passages A2 and' permit thedrying fluid to pass onto the upper surface of the bed and into and through the material supported on said bed. These struck-u portions may take any shape desired, and

.in the drawings I have shown them as being substantially half round and positioned so that the openings A4 all point in one direction. 'Ihe reason for this lies in the fact that the material to be dried, in accordance with my invention, is adapted to be progressed or moved along the bed while being 'subjected to the action of the drying fluid,

and by pointing or directing the openings all in the same direction, and in the direction along which the material moves, the material cannot work back into the openings and clog them. As ,a further precaution against the working back of the material and the clogging of the openings, the holes or openings A1 of the plate A are odset with respect to the openings A4 so that the said openings A1 register with the rear portions of the struck-up portions A3. This arrangement provides indirect passages for the air from the air chamber underneath to the upper surface of the bed, and even though the material might Work back into the openings A"l to some extent, it cannot work far enough back to drop through the openings A1 into the air chamber below. Furthermore, the air or drying fluid passing through these passages 1n comparatively fine, definitely directed streams will act to keep the passages clear of material. It will be noted that the material, by reason of itsl being moved along the bed, will constantly tend to move away from, rather than toward, the openings A4.

In the construction shown in Fig. 5, the same effect is obtained, but the bed, instead of being built up of sheet metal properly perforated, is formed in one piece by casting or otherwise-that is to say, the struck-up portions A2 are cast integral with the body of the plate. Beneath the bed is a long chamber C which is preferably common to the openings in the bed and by which the drying fluid is carried through the passages in the bed. This chamber is preferably closed at one end C1, and at its other end communicates with a source of drying fluid. In the present structure, I have shown means for supplying heated air tothe material.

This means, which is shown at B, is representative of any' suitable mechanism for this purpose and comprises a chamber B1 which contains a plurality of heating coils B2. The air in the chamber B1 is introduced into the drying apparatus by means of a suitable blower mechanism B3, which communicates at its intake side with the chamber B1 and at its discharge side with the end of the air chamber C by means of a suitable duct B". This blower is adapted to supply the heated air to the drying apparatus at the pressure found to be proper under the particular circumstances and requirements. For the sake of properly supporting the drying bed on account of its comparatively great length, it may be arranged to rest upon beams C2, or other -suitable supporting members, which in this case are disposed longitudinally of the chamber C so as not to interfere with the passage of the air therethrough to the farthest endthereof. The material to be dried may be introduced into the apparatus, or placed upon the bed in any desired manner, butI prefer to introduce it at a uniform rate at one end of the bed and discharge it at the other end thereof so that it will be subjected to the drying treatment for a considerable period of time while progressing from, one end of the bed to the other. For this reason Ihave shown a hopper D at the intake end as representative of any desired means for introducing the material properly to the apparatus; and at the other end, or discharge end of the apparatus, the material may be arranged to leave the bed and drop or be fed on to a suitable chain conveyer E which may be inclined upwardly and arranged with its discharge chute E1 in position to discharge the dried material directly into a car or other conveyance.

As a means of insurin the progress of the material along the bed, the bed may be inclined downwardly to the desired degree from its intake end to its discharge end, as clearlyshown in Fig. 1. I prefer to agitate or tumble the material about on the bed as it progresses therealong, so that it will be thoroughly and completely mibjeeted in all its particles to the drying action of the air emanating from the openings or perforations in the bed, and ,for this reason I provide a plurality of agitators F operating to engage and tumble the material about. These agitators are preferably carried at intervals by a continuous chain or belt G travcling along sprockets,4 or other suitable supports D1 at the ends of the bed, and having its lower reach disposed substantially parallel with the plane of the drying bed. This chain may be driven by any suitable mechanism, which need not be described, and in this construction its lower reach is arranged to travel from the intake end of the apparatus toward the discharge end thereofthat is, in the direction in which the material moves. In consequence, the` agitators on the lower reach travel in that direction and their effect is to progress the material along the bed. These agitators in the present structure are-rotary in character, and are preferably made up of a plurality of vanes .or blades F1, which are mounted on hubs or shafts F2 disposed transversely of the drying bed, and rotation is imparted to them by means of gears F3 .carried at the ends of theshafts or hubs F2 and adapted to mesh with and travel along a continuous toothed rack F4 disposed along the upper side of said gears. For the purpose of guiding the agitators along a definite line with respect particularly to the drying bed, thshafts or hubs F2 of the agitators are pro vided with free running rollers F5 at their ends which travel along suitable lower guides F9 supported on suitable members F1 outstanding from the wall of the casing or housing which incloses the bed and the agi-V tator mechanism. The members FB which support the toothed racks F4 are formed at F9 so as to provide upper guides for the rollers F5.

The supports F" and F8, together with the guide members, form housings around the chain and gears which prevent the material from reaching said driving members, and if desired the upper supports F8 may have overhanging flanges F10, as a further assurance. This driving mechanism for the agimisses tator operates to rotate said agitator in the direction in which said agitators and the material travel bodily,-that is to say, the

blades or vanes nearest the bed move or ro.

tate in the same direction that the material travels and operates to progress the material along th`e bed, and at the same time properly agitates or tumbles the material about .on the bed. In this structure, the vanes or blades are preferably radially disposed about their hubs F2 lin circumferential series or rows and the vanes of each row are staggered with respect to those of the adjacent rows so as to furthercarry out the agitating effect which they would have upon the material. These blades or vanes may be of any suitable shapefor the purpose. For instance, some materials ma be of such character that it will not only e desirable to simply move the material along the bed and agitate it on the bed, butit will also be de-v sirable to actually raise or lift the material off of the bed and sift or drop it back onto the bed so that the air will intimately reach all parts of4 said material. Under such conditions I prefer to make the vanes somewhat scoop-shaped, as shown in the drawings, so that they will actually scoop up the material, carry it over themselves and drop it back onto the bed, but under conditions where the material is of such Character that it cannot be readily scooped up or raised in this manner, thevanes may be formed in such manner that they will push or roll the material, so` to speak, along the bed and agitate it at the same time. The shape, number and speed of rotation of these vanes, of course, depends upon the particular conditions under which the apparatus is operating and upon the character and condition of the material. The bed and agitator mechanism are all inclosed within a chamber H formed by a suitable housing H1, and the moisture laden airl or fluid resulting from the action of the heat of dryingthe material is preferably carried or drawn' from this chamber as fast as necessary under the particular conditions. In this structure, I have shown an exhaust mechanism J connected till;

with the chamber I-I at a pluralit of distributed points J2 by the ducts 3 which converge into a common duct J* entering the exhaust mechanism J. 'Ihe exhaust mechanism may discharge the moisure laden air 'into the atmosphere through its 'discharge outlet J5.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. rIhe combination of means forming a supporting surface for the material to be treated, and having a plurality of indirect air passages through which air is emitted to dry the material, and rotary agitators operating to tumble -the material about to subject all of its particles to the action of the a1r.

2. The combination of means forming a supporting surface for the material to be treated, and having a plurality of indirect air passages through which air is emitted, to dry the material, rotary agitators operating to tumble theh material about to subject all of its particles to the action of the air, and means for carrying H the moisture laden air.

3. A bed of the class described comprising a plurality of superposed members forming a support for the material to be treated, the lower of said members having a plurality of perforations, and the upper of said. members having a plurality of openings communicating with said perfor-ations but odset with respect thereto.

4. rlhe combination of a drying bed comprising a flat supporting member having a plurality 'of air "passages and low guards disposed over sald` passages and forming mouths for said passages disposed at an angle to the plane of saidplate and facing all in the same direction, and means for moving the material along the bed in the direction in which said mouths face.

Signed by me at Chicago, day of February, 1915.

EARNEST E. SILER.

Illinois, this 13 Witnesses:

I-I. S. BEAUBIEN, E. H. Ctres.. 

